Munoz disappeared after only 18 days

 David Munoz never had a chance to meet the Vietnamese people, never had a chance to see the Vietnamese countryside. He was in the Southeast Asian country for only 18 days before he "disappeared."
   His father, Ben -- an eight-year veteran of Navy service during World War II - talks of his son with intensity.
   "David went to Vietnam," the elder Munoz says, "because he said he had to go -- it was his job. So the government shouldn't just write him off.
   "David wanted to go to serve his country -- forgetting about him and the others missing in action is not the way of repaying him or them."
   A MUNOZ IS IN the forefront of the group dedicated to forcing the people -and the U.S. government -- to remember the 1,300 MIAs presumably still alive.
   David is the oldest of Munoz' six children. Born in Fresno, but raised in Los Angeles, David dropped out of high school to go to work. He enlisted in the Army in November of 1968. By the end of April of 1969 he was in Vietnam.
   "We got five letters from him," his father recalls. "He said he was waiting to be assigned. Then, in his last letter, he said he was to replace a boy that had stepped on mine. He said Vietnam was hell, but he said he would rather die than be blown apart and live. -ike the boy he replaced."
 But what happened to the 21-year-old infantryman may never be known."
   HIS FATHER tells all that is known: "He and another boy from San Jose were on machine-gun guard in a small village. The unit pulled out and went into night positions when they noticed that both were missing.
 "They went back and all that they found were shells and blood."

    The unit returned to the spot where the two were last seen five days later and found more evidence that the two had been there:
   "David's patch--the 82nd Airborne--was nailed to a tree and a deck of cards that belonged to the boy from San Jose was found on the ground."
   The one thing that keeps the elder Munoz and his wife and family hoping:
   "All the soldiers tell that if the bodies are not there, they were taken prisoner. The North Vietnamese don't bury them and they don't hide .They'd take them prisoner before they'd kill them.
   "We feel he's alive--unless they kill him now," the father adds frankly.
   The hope has kept the boy alive in the family's mind for almost four years.
   BUT MUNOZ hasn't just waited and hoped. He has sent 20,000 letters to legislators and other asking that no aid be given the Hanoi government until they account for his son and the other 1300 MIAs.
   "Many of the MIAs have been seen alive and are still not accounted If we forget about them, we'll end up in another Korea with our men in slave labor camps.
   "Our government claims that nobody is alive--but I don't see they could say this. They have had evidence that some were alive--now they claim there's no evidence of anything.
   Fifty-six were known to be alive and in prison, but now they're nowhere to found. "There have been seven accounted for out of 324 missing in Laos--that's ridiculous.
   If the government doesn't face up to this now--no one will ever go again, . .no one will ever volunteer to serve, .to die..."

[Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA, 22 Apr 1973, Sun, Pages 1. 5 and 10]

Grave marker in memory of Sfc David L. Munoz in Plot MA, 0, 8, Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles (Los Angeles county), California.

Pfc Munoz was listed as missing in action on 13 May 1969 along with Robert Masuda,  Munoz was designated as officially dead as of 31 July 1978, hence the late date of the grave marker.  He was posthumously promoted to SFC,

See joint memorial page for further details.
 

Many people wore these POW/MIA remembrance bracelets as a sign of support for Pfc Munoz and his family